Abstract

This article investigates the mediating role of specific emotions attached to the consumption of milk, yoghurt, cheese, and maas (Note 1) in Gauteng Province, South Africa. To this end, 81 South African dairy consumers’ consumption experiences were assessed through the use of the Product Emotion measurement (PrEmo). Computer-aided web interviews (CAWI) were used to collect the data. The findings indicate that ultimately, dairy consumption is emotionally-driven. The findings also clearly offer strong support that the notion of consumer emotion is a much better indicator for assessing and improving consumer experience. The uncovered strong emotions elicited by the selected generic dairy products should be considered by dairy marketers as critical building blocks in creating dairy marketing messages. Measuring consumers’ consumption experience as integral part of a marketing programme is the first study of its kind in the South African dairy industry.

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